[Freeipmi-devel] Re: FreeIPMI beta w/ BMC watchdog workaround for Sun machines

[Frank Steiner]

Frank Steiner wrote
 
> Btw., Sun has confirmed it's a bug that the state flag does not change.
> The 2nd level support has requested a firmware update for the ILOM, but it's
> not yet clear if it will be granted.

Sun finally made it :-) They release a new ILOM firmware 2.0.2.10 for
the X4100M2/X4200M2 which can be downloaded at
https://cds.sun.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/CDS-CDS_SMI-Site/en_US/-/USD/address@hidden

With this firmware, the timer status field changes from "Stopped" to
"Running" after e.g. "bmc-watchdog -r". Their support now even mentions
how to use freeipmi :-)

cu,
Frank


Quote from Sun engineering:

Now we have two solutions for Customer to use BMC Watchdog Timer function in
new respin G12f ILOM:

=====1. Use open source ipmitool=======

(http://sourceforge.net/projects/ipmitool/files/)
"ipmitool ... mc watchdog off" can correctly stopped current running BMC 
Watchdog Timer in SP/ILOM.

To monitor Server status with open source ipmitool:
a. Set up BMC Watchdog Timer in BIOS.
     The setup path is "Advanced -> IPMI 2.0 Configuration -> BMC Watch Dog 
Timer Action"
b. Upon BIOS POST finishes, Timer will start automatically. Then first stop 
Timer with
     "ipmitool ... bmc watchdog off" command from a remote system.
c. Set up a daemon in local system. The daemon should do jobs as below:
    Periodically call "ipmitool ... bmc watchdog reset" to restart Watchdog 
Timer.
    The reset period should be less than the Timer Initial beginning value.

==============2. Use freeipmi=============

Latest freeipmi can be download from:
http://ftp.gluster.com/pub/freeipmi/0.8.9/
Details of the bmc-watchdog tool usage:
http://www.gnu.org/software/freeipmi/manpages/man8/bmc-watchdog.8.html

*NOTICE*
We don't need to pre-setup BMC Watchdog Timer in BIOS, because bmc-watchdog tool
bundled in freeipmi provide SET command.

*Usage Example*
First please install freeipmi in local Host system which will be controlled by
BMC Watchdog Timer.

address@hidden ~]# /usr/local/sbin/bmc-watchdog -g
Timer Use:                   BIOS POST
Timer:                       Stopped
Logging:                     Enabled
Timeout Action:              None
Pre-Timeout Interrupt:       None
Pre-Timeout Interval:        0 seconds
Timer Use BIOS FRB2 Flag:    Set
Timer Use BIOS POST Flag:    Set
Timer Use BIOS OS Load Flag: Set
Timer Use BIOS SMS/OS Flag:  Set
Timer Use BIOS OEM Flag:     Set
Initial Countdown:           6553 seconds
Current Countdown:           6553 seconds
address@hidden ~]# /usr/local/sbin/bmc-watchdog --set -a 1 -i 300
address@hidden ~]# /usr/local/sbin/bmc-watchdog -g
Timer Use:                   BIOS POST
Timer:                       Stopped
Logging:                     Enabled
Timeout Action:              Hard Reset     <=====
Pre-Timeout Interrupt:       None
Pre-Timeout Interval:        0 seconds
Timer Use BIOS FRB2 Flag:    Set
Timer Use BIOS POST Flag:    Set
Timer Use BIOS OS Load Flag: Set
Timer Use BIOS SMS/OS Flag:  Set
Timer Use BIOS OEM Flag:     Set
Initial Countdown:           300 seconds    <=====
Current Countdown:           300 seconds
address@hidden ~]# /usr/local/sbin/bmc-watchdog 
--logfile=/var/log/bmc-watchdog.log -d
address@hidden ~]# cat /var/log/bmc-watchdog.log
[Sep 01 01:34:39]: starting bmc-watchdog daemon
address@hidden ~]# /usr/local/sbin/bmc-watchdog -g
Timer Use:                   BIOS POST
Timer:                       Running
Logging:                     Enabled
Timeout Action:              Hard Reset
Pre-Timeout Interrupt:       None
Pre-Timeout Interval:        0 seconds
Timer Use BIOS FRB2 Flag:    Clear
Timer Use BIOS POST Flag:    Clear
Timer Use BIOS OS Load Flag: Clear
Timer Use BIOS SMS/OS Flag:  Clear
Timer Use BIOS OEM Flag:     Clear
Initial Countdown:           300 seconds
Current Countdown:           296 seconds

The Timer will be reset by bmc-watchdog daemon periodically. The default reset 
period is 60
seconds.


-- 
Dipl.-Inform. Frank Steiner   Web:  http://www.bio.ifi.lmu.de/~steiner/
Lehrstuhl f. Bioinformatik    Mail: http://www.bio.ifi.lmu.de/~steiner/m/
LMU, Amalienstr. 17           Phone: +49 89 2180-4049
80333 Muenchen, Germany       Fax:   +49 89 2180-99-4049
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